So, I'm back from CHI 2011 and an extended weekend in Vancouver. A very intense week divided between preparing and giving two presentations whilst also trying to attend panels and talks within the conference. The weekend before the main conference I attended the "HCI, Politics and the City" workshop. It was probably the most fun workshop I have ever attended, and I particularly enjoyed the effort made to get us HCI researchers out talking and working with activist groups around Vancouver. The group I was in went for a cycle ride around Vancouver whilst also getting to know members of the Velopalozza group. I think it was the perfect mixture of fun with work. We were tasked with exploring how technology might better help the group recruit people to both organise cycle rides, as well as participate in cycle rides. I'm not sure that we fully satisified the needs of our clients,  but nevertheless it was certainly a thought-provoking couple of days.

Over the last few days myself and a PhD student from Southampton University have been in Rome and Portus doing fieldwork. Now, let me be clear, sacrifices have been made for us to be here. We had to take the 07:00 flight from Gatwick, and we have worked over two British bank holidays, so don't go thinking this is a jolly. 

It's a bit of a funny time at the moment. I've recently had some sad family news and I can't help but feel a little distracted from work. Memories of my Grandparents, who both died in the last week, pop into my mind at inopportune moments. Occasionally tears prick my eyes. Work beckons.

I've not got too much time today, as I'm off to see a talk at Northumbria University. Today has been a bit choppy. I started the day as usual with a cycle ride dodging cows, and then checking through email. One email caused me a little excitment, and forked my day a little.

So, today sees a new dawn in my blogging behaviour - or it should if I actually stick to it. Last week we had two very productive meetings for the PATINA project. The more we talked about the experience of doing research, the more I started to think that it would be useful to keep some sort of diary tracking my experience of doing academic research on a daily basis. I'm going to try and be honest about life as an academic researcher. I'm going to try and focus on more than what I have done in a day, looking to also reflect on my experiences of doing research at a British university. Here goes!

I’ve been reading “The Ethnographic 1: A Methodological Novel about Autoenthnography” by Carolyn Ellis, and it has on some levels really resonated with me, and the way I feel about research, particularly with regard to the project I am currently working on.

Over the last few weeks I've been working up a study design to explore shyness in higher education. What I have found surprising is that it seems that very little research has looked at shyness in higher education learning interactions (with the exception of Psychologists like Ray Crozier). Yet, when I think about higher education, I think about the importance placed on students around constructing their own knowledge and contributing to discussion and debate, and therefore the extent to which students need to be comfortable to express opinions that others may not agree with, and sometimes be seen making mistakes. These sorts of interactions can be thought of as shyness invoking - they place students in a position where judgements can easily be made about themselves as individuals (i.e. their ability, their intelligence, their personality).

Just started working on a CHI paper for the 2011 conference in Vancouver. The paper is describing the results of a study that the Interact lab strand of the Shyness in Pervasive Computing project has been working on over the last year. The study explored whether ambient visualisations can support the development of rapport in interactants. The results are pretty interesting, suggesting that visualisations responding to mirroring behaviours, and back-channel responses can increase these types of behaviours in pairs of participants completing a planning task. This is especially interesting given the sub-conscious relationship between these types of body language and feelings such as rapport, and trust. I'm enjoying unpacking this analysis and its implications in the article.

From my reading around the subject and talking to experts in the area it seems that something like the Subtle Stone could have real promise for children with special educational needs.

Well, I finally graduated. It was quite odd seeing as I didn't know too many of the others students who I graduated with, but it felt good. And, I didn't fall over, which is my main worry about this kind of events.